CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 283 km round trip from Lisbon - roughly 3 h 49 in the saddle. On the way it passes Monastery of Alcobaça, Monastery of Batalha, back through Monastery of Batalha and back through Monastery of Alcobaça. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Lisbon is built on hills, as the old joke goes, to give the trams something to do. The city rises from the north bank of the Tagus river on seven hills, a tumble of tiled houses, church domes and steep cobbled lanes, with yellow trams creaking up the slopes, and the great red suspension bridge, the 25 de Abril, spanning the estuary. In 1755 a huge earthquake, followed by a tsunami and fires, destroyed much of the centre and killed tens of thousands, and the flat grid of the Baixa district was rebuilt afterwards under the Marquis of Pombal. The hill quarters of Alfama and Mouraria, which came through, still have their medieval twists and turns.
Read the complete Lisbon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lisbon is where the day begins. Next is Monastery of Alcobaça.
In 1153, Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, gave a vast estate to the Cistercian monks of Bernard of Clairvaux, and they built here one of the greatest monasteries of medieval Europe. The church of Alcobaça, with its long, soaring nave of pale stone, is austere and beautiful in the Cistercian manner, and the cloisters, dormitory, chapter house and refectory survive almost intact. The kitchen is enormous, with a huge chimney and a stream diverted through it so the monks could catch fish directly. UNESCO listed the monastery in 1989. But the main reason most visitors come is a love story.
Read the complete Monastery of Alcobaça write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Monastery of Alcobaça comes up 37 km in. Next is Monastery of Alcobaça.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monastery of Alcobaça write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least 93 km in you reach Monastery of Alcobaça. Next is Monastery of Batalha.
On 14 August 1385, near the village of Aljubarrota, a Portuguese army led by King João I defeated a much larger Castilian force, securing Portugal's independence. Before the battle the king had vowed to build a great monastery to the Virgin Mary if he won, and he kept his word. The Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória, known simply as Batalha, which means battle, rose over the following century and more, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture in pale limestone, with flying buttresses, pinnacles and intricately carved portals. It was listed by UNESCO in 1983.
Read the complete Monastery of Batalha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Monastery of Batalha, about halfway. Next is Monastery of Batalha.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monastery of Batalha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Monastery of Batalha sits at 150 km, about halfway. Next is back through Monastery of Batalha.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monastery of Batalha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Monastery of Batalha comes up 187 km in. Next is back through Monastery of Alcobaça.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monastery of Alcobaça write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
224 km in you reach back through Monastery of Alcobaça. Next is back through Monastery of Alcobaça.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monastery of Alcobaça write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Monastery of Alcobaça, late in the day. Next is Lisbon.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lisbon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 283 km.
Lisbon → Monastery of Alcobaça is 126 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Monastery of Alcobaça → Monastery of Batalha is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monastery of Batalha → back through Monastery of Alcobaça is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monastery of Alcobaça → Lisbon is 126 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.